Gynecologic Cancer

Endometrial Cancers

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Diagnosis

If you have symptoms that suggest endometrial cancer, your doctor may check general signs of your health and order blood and urine tests. Your doctor also may perform one or more of the exams or following tests:

• A pelvic exam is done to check a woman's vagina, uterus, bladder and rectum. The doctor feels these organs for any lumps or changes in their shape or size. To see the upper part of the vagina and the cervix, the doctor inserts an instrument called a speculum into the vagina.

• A Pap test is when the doctor collects cells from the cervix and upper vagina. A medical laboratory checks for abnormal cells. Although the Pap test can detect cancer of the cervix, cells from inside the uterus usually do not show up on a Pap test. This is why the doctor collects samples of cells from inside the uterus in a procedure called a biopsy.

• Transvaginal ultrasound involves a doctor inserting an instrument into the vagina. The instrument aims high-frequency sound waves at the uterus. The pattern of the echoes they produce creates a picture. If the endometrium looks too thick, the doctor can do a biopsy.

• Biopsy is when the doctor removes a sample of tissue from the uterine lining. This usually can be done in the doctor's office.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Last updated August 1, 2007